


You Know

by Elvarya85



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Civilian, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Breakup, Confessions of love, Established Relationship, FrostIron - Freeform, M/M, Unhealthy Relationships, Vague AU, and the ending of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-06 19:49:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/739453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvarya85/pseuds/Elvarya85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I loved you, you know.”</p><p>Tony’s words were quiet, but they easily carried across the rooftop to Loki.</p><p>“I know.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Know

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really sure where this came from, exactly. I just suddenly had the image of Tony standing on a roof, saying that first line, and had to write this scene.
> 
> I'm so sorry.

“I loved you, you know.”

Tony’s words were quiet, but they easily carried across the rooftop to Loki.

“I know.” Tony didn’t turn to look at him, but his brow furrowed in confusion. Loki explained without prompting. “You’re quite transparent. You didn’t have to say it for me to realize.”

“You knew,” he echoed, “and you’re still ending it?”

“I don’t have much of a choice.”

“That’s bullshit!” Tony said, nearly cutting Loki off with his harsh tone, and then his voice softened and he just sounded sad. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”

A silence stretched between them, cloaking them and the rooftop around them, the rooftop which had once meant so much to them. They’d shared their first kiss here, wasted lazy summer nights up here, curled up under a blanket to gaze at the stars and fight off the nighttime chill.

They’d even seen a shooting star one night.

“Make a wish,” Loki had said. With Tony’s head on Loki’s chest, his words had been a low rumble in his ear, rich and beautiful. Tony had closed his eyes and silently wished that he could keep Loki there with him forever.

But wishes on stars never came true, did they?

Now, they’d done it all. They’d done their shouting at each other and their crying on their own and now that left them here, on the familiar rooftop, both feeling tired and empty.

Tony opened his mouth to ask Loki why he was there, why he’d come to see him when he’d already made it abundantly clear where they stood, but Loki chose that exact moment to say, “I’m leaving in the morning.”

Tony’s mouth hung open for a moment, then he closed it, swallowed, and said, “Where will you go?”

Loki made a hesitant sort of _hmm_ noise, and said, “I’m not so sure I should tell you.”

“Worried I’ll come after you?” Tony’s voice sounded so dead, even to himself. But it was intentional. He knew that if he were to show any emotion, he’d snap. Break down and beg Loki to stay. 

He wasn’t sure what he was more afraid of, that Loki would or that he wouldn’t.

But Tony’s words made Loki stop, and he stilled, eyes wide, brow furrowed in pain, even if Tony couldn’t see it with his back turned. “No,” he said quietly.

Because he didn’t know if Tony would. But god, if he told Tony where he was going, he wanted him to. He knew that he’d spend every day waiting for him, answer every knock at the door expecting to see Tony standing there, look up every time he heard his name expecting Tony to be the caller. He wouldn’t live, he’d just be waiting for Tony.

And Tony would come.

And nothing would change at all. They’d go on as they had before, both hurting the other and hurting themselves and burying their anger and frustration in the body of the other. They’d destroy themselves, run themselves into the ground.

Which was why Loki had to leave, even as every inch of his body was screaming for him to breach the distance, to walk over to Tony and wrap his arms around the man’s body from behind and set his chin on Tony’s shoulder.

He knew exactly how Tony would react. He’d relax back against him, pressing into his chest, and taking a deep breath. And they’d both go inside, curl up in bed and hold each other through the night, and they’d get up the next morning and pretend none of it had ever happened. And nothing would be fixed, nothing would be changed.

And Loki couldn’t continue living a lie, couldn’t pretend everything was alright when it wasn’t, when it hadn’t been in a long time.

“Did you come to say goodbye?” Tony finally turned to face him. Seeing Loki’s face was like a physical ache in every inch of his body. His face was painfully indifferent, green eyes gleaming in the light from the city. His hands were tucked into his pockets in a gestured that was clearly designed to be casual and nonchalant, but the tense set of his body gave away the anxiousness beneath the facade. 

“That’s the plan, yes. I figured I owed you at least this much.”

Tony flinched back at that, though in the dim light, he was certain Loki couldn’t tell. Loki _owed_ it to him. No emotion, just obligation to the person he’d been fucking for almost a year now.

And Tony wanted to be angry about that. Wanted to look him in the eye and say, “Well, congratulations, mission accomplished, I suppose you can be on your merry way now, have a nice life!”

But he couldn’t. He just stared at Loki sadly, then mumbled something Loki couldn’t make out.

“What was that?”

Tony cleared his throat. “I said, will you at least kiss me one last time? For old time’s sake.”

Silence stretched between them again as Loki weighed the pros and cons of such an act, and finally decided to throw caution into the wind. He took measured steps to close the distance between the two of them. Tony’s eyes fell closed as soon as Loki halted in front of him, face tilted up. Loki leaned in slowly, eyes falling closed as his lips touched Tony’s one final time.

It was a short kiss, over just as the both of them were getting the taste of it. Tony’s eyes were still closed when Loki pulled away, reluctant to open them, not wishing for his last glimpse of Loki to be the man’s back receding down a flight of stairs as a door swung shut behind him. He wanted to remember Loki as he was, beautiful and graceful in everything he did, even if it was pain.

“I love you, too, you know,” Loki murmured.

When Tony opened his eyes again, Loki was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> So this pretty much just became me exploring a different side of Frostiron. So much of what I read and write for them is either really fluffy, porn, or over the top world-ending angst. I wanted something a bit more normal. I wanted to explore the idea of Frostiron as an unhealthy relationship. I love seeing them as perfect completions to each other, but those two could just as easily fall into a destructive relationship as they could fix each other.
> 
> I see the difference between their characters being that Tony can lie in denial, while the only person Loki can't lie to is himself. So he's ending it for the good of both of them, even if Tony won't accept that, and even if Loki doesn't really want to end it at all.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Comments on this would be greatly appreciated, either here or on tumblr.
> 
>  
> 
> <http://tonystarksnipples.tumblr.com/ask>


End file.
